Manchester United tonight showed why they weren't to be toiled with. It looked like the touchline ban and fine of Jose Mourinho would have an effect on the match but with the Old Trafford fans coming in the defence of their manager against a senseless FA charge and the players determined to impress their manager, they was little West Ham could have possibly done.
This was just a brilliant Manchester United performance and all credit should go to Jose Mourinho after he made sure he didn't repeat the same mistakes he made in the premier league. This game was so impressive that we forgot that Paul Pogba wasn't even in the game.
Manchester United made five changes to the side that drew 1-1 with West Ham in the premier league with Anthony Martial, Wayne Rooney, Luke Shaw, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Micheal Carrick all coming in for the woeful Jesse Lingard, Marcus Rashford, Matteo Darmian, Juan Mata and Paul Pogba who was absent due to suspension alongside Marouane Fellaini.
The game started off with some high pressure and good football from Manchester United which led to a 4-1 hammering of the hammers in the EFL Cup which was a repeat of the Premier League fixture that was played on sunday and surely Manchester United were never going to disappoint, leaving West Ham bruised and battered in their wake.
United started with high pressure and good football which led to a well worked team goal which was capped off by Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Wayne Rooney was the anchor of the goal in which Mkhitaryan provided a sublime assist for Zlatan Ibrahimovic who slightly chipped West Ham keeper Adrian and only gave us an injury scare.
United could have gone 2-0 up but Zlatan's shot which originated from Rooney and Mkhitaryan once again was blocked after a well worked counter attack with Martial also part of it leaving fans wondering what could have been if Rooney had been well fed by Manchester United and also a whole lot of beer in the beginning of the season.
While Manchester United were dominating the proceedings, their chief tormentor Dimitri Payet was at it again, orchestreating the West Ham goal to put them square after his shot was saved by David de Gea into the on rushing Ashley Fletcher to score against his former club.
United instantly took the lead 3 minutes into the second with Mkhitaryan once again providing the assist for Anthony Martial who thumped it in the top left corner at the Stretford End after Valencia fed Micki with a delicious back heel pass making it to assists for Mkhitaryan.
Just like the first half or any other match these days, United came close to doubling their lead in the 56thminute, as Anthony Martial’s controlled Rooney’s pass and shot it straight at the keeper. Later in the one hour mark, Zlatan managed to put a low and powerful free kick directly at Adrian that almost slipped from his hands.
However the lead was doubled quickly as Anthony Martial who absolutely loves scoring against the hammers grabbed his 5th goal in two games against the London side after Zlatan thread a clever through pass which provided Valencia with a lot of space to square the ball to Martial who scored his second goal of the night.
With almost 15 minutes yet to play first blood was literally drawn between Winston Reid and Wayne Rooney when the former accidentally clipped Rooney’s face with the boot, for what should have been a penalty for United due to the English Centre-Back’s high boot. While the captain protested for a penalty, he was also urged to calm down as he was already on a yellow card for arguing with the referee and another suspension would be unnecessary for the home team.
In spite of the win over West Ham and United advancing to the Semi-Finals of the EFL Cup, the most exciting part of the night was the fact that Bastian Schweinsteiger finally made an appearance in a football game since 20th March 2016 against Manchester City. The German veteran replaced tonight’s hero Anthony Martial in the 86th minute and was deployed as the Centre Attacking Midfielder for the remaining minutes of the game.
Just when we thought the game would end at 3-1, Manchester United went on to score a fourth by Zlatan Ibrahimovic via our midfield hero Ander Herrera. A goal where fan favorite, and duly missed Bastian Schweinsteiger was involved, along with Rooney, to set up what was quite possibly the last touch of the game as United’s fourth and Zlatan’s second.
All in all, this was a much-deserved victory for Manchester United, a result that should have been replicated in the Premier League game as well. Considering both, Mourinho and Pogba were suspended for this match, there were a number of positives to take away for us, some of them being Mikhitaryan’s gradual improvement, Martial back to scoring goals, Bastian’s involvement and a place in semi-finals, just a few games away from perhaps winning our first silverware of the season.
Goals: Zlatan Ibrahimovic 2′, 90+2′, Anthony Martial 48′, 62′
Assists: Henrikh Mkhitaryan 2′, 48′, Antonio Valencia 62′, Ander Herrera 90+2′
Manchester United: De Gea; Valencia, Jones, Rojo, Shaw (Blind 46′); Carrick, Herrera; Mkhitaryan (Rashford 89′), Rooney, Martial (Schweinsteiger 86′); Ibrahimovic
Substitutes Not Used: Romero; Mata, Lingard, Schneiderlin
http://sarafinaj.blogspot.com/2016/12/manchester-united-angrily-obliterate.html
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